Happy Birthday Malcolm
How lucky we were to have you
Through your life we saw that all transformations were possible
You are embedded in the fabric of the black man here in America
From the bright kid
Top of the class Malcolm Little
We saw how institutionalized racism and oppressive teachers could discourage our youth
and put a choke hold on their dreams and aspirations
You gave us an up close and personal look at the allure of the street life
Fast cars, fast women & fast money
Fine threads, drugs and the respect of our peers
The adrenaline of sticking it to the man
You would later tell us that we were in fact sticking it to ourselves
but you would have to get arrested before we understood that
Locked in solitude
the only place a life of crime leads
You showed your transformative power once again
Caged in the penitentiary
you sought refuge in the prison library
You found Allah and the Nation of Islam
tenets that brought you back to your parents early teachings of Garvey
Reborn with knowledge of self
Your mentor Elijah Muhammad began to show you the way
In your working days people found you lazy
But you would prove to be one of the nations most disciplined ministers
A work-a-holic they called you
Working for our people
“they don’t come like the minister”
Your evangelism and loyal passion to the suffering inner city Negro
Helped the Nation of Islam grow
From 2 temples to a national army with over 100,000 soldiers
You taught us black pride
You said that we needed to honor and respect our women
You warned us of supporting those who came to our communities filling us with hope
only to leave us in despair once they got our vote
You spoke your mind freely
Unafraid of what the establishment thought
“The hate that hate produced”
Wasn’t hate at all
You taught us to love ourselves
To be unashamedly black in a society that wanted us to enter through the back door
You were growing too fast
Trips overseas made you more worldly and instead of leaving us
You tied our struggles back to the masses of people of color throughout the world
Pan africanism would serve better than black nationalism
My big brother wanted to levy charges against the United States before the UN for the atrocities black people in America
But you were developing too fast
So on Feb. 21st 1965 they had to cut you down
You meant too much
Your light shined too bright
Your ability to articulate our struggle
Coupled with your connections to people abroad was too much to fight with
So they assassinated you
But as they say
You can kill a revolutionary
Bit you can’t kill a revolution
So on your 86th birthday we honor you
We pay homage to you
We respect you
As Ossie Davis said
“our own black shining prince
Who didn’t hesitate to die because he loved us so”
Happy Birthday Brother Malcolm
Rest in Power El Hajj Malik El Shabazz
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